The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys recently announced the latest phase of the Town and Village Renewal Scheme.
The funding forms part of the the Government’s Action Plan for Rural Development and a total of €20 million nationally will be approved for projects. Last year Roscommon projects received funding of over €375,000 through the Town and Village Renewal Scheme. Types of projects to be supported this year include:
– Project that support entrepreneurship e.g. enterprise hubs, hot desk facilities, digital hubs, creative hubs, training facilities.
– Integrated approaches to developing individual sectors within the town (consistent with our town teams concept).
– Collaboration between town centre businesses and surrounding area to produce economic benefit.
– Tourism initiatives.
Emphasis will be placed on projects that have clear positive economic impacts on the town/village, rather than just public realm-type actions. Projects will be required to commence this year and be completed by the middle of 2018.
Two categories of towns are eligible to apply:
Category 1: Towns/villages with population of less than 5,000
Category 2: Towns with population of 5,000 – 10,000.
Grant values
Up to 80% of the total cost of a project under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme will be provided for any individual project. The minimum grant which is available is €20,000 and the maximum is €100,000.
Applications
Roscommon County Council is inviting expressions of interest for consideration under the terms of the scheme and may select up to fifteen proposals for development into detailed applications to be submitted to the Department for assessment.
An Expression of Interest form can be downloaded here
Full details of the scheme are available here or by contacting the Community Section of Roscommon County Council on 09066 37235. Submissions should be marked/titled ‘Expression of Interest for 2017 Town and Village Renewal Scheme.’
The closing date for receipt of fully completed Expressions of Interest by post, hand or by email to [email protected] is 5pm on Friday May 26th. Late submissions will not be considered.
In encouraging groups to apply Senator Frank Feighan said
“This funding will certainly bring tangible benefits to people and revitalise rural communities across Roscommon. Up to 300 towns and villages across the country will benefit from funding under the 2017 Town and Village Renewal scheme, which will be made available over the next 15 months to support rural regeneration.”